A Call for a Global MobilizationAgainst the G20 Summit inPittsburgh, PA

September 24-25, 2009

ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE – BUT WE MUST FIGHT FOR IT!

BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE

JOBS & SOCIAL NEEDS--NOT WAR AND GREED

FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL

SHUTDOWN THE RACIST PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

G20 ORGANIZING MEETING IN PITTSBURGH , SUNDAY, JULY 12

The third G20 summit is going to be in Pittsburgh , Pa. on September 24 and 25, 2009. The challenge before the movements for economic and social justice, as well as the antiwar movement, is that the next meeting of the powers that govern the world economy be met with a powerful mass mobilization demanding that jobs and social needs, not war and greed, prevail--here in the U.S. and across the world.

The G20 summits are taking place in response to the greatest worldwide economic crisis since the 1930s. However, the purpose of these high-level meetings of governments and bankers is not to rescue the people of the world from depression-level unemployment, evictions, homelessness, poverty, social and economic inequality, and war. These summits are about fixing the economic and financial order that puts profits before people--and fixing that system by creating more poverty, misery and suffering.

The last G20 summit, held in London in early April, was met with massive protests both there and throughout Europe. Now that the G20 is coming to the U.S. , it is up to activists and organizations in the U.S. to take up the challenge of uniting and working together to organize a mobilization for Pittsburgh during the summit.

Many had expected New York City to be the location of next G20. Yet once it was confirmed that Pittsburgh would be the summit location, organizers immediately began preliminary logistical planning for a mass mobilization there in September.

Organizing for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh was the central theme of a People’s Economic Summit meeting in New York City on May 31. Consistent with the theme of that summit, “A New World Is Urgently Needed–But We Must Fight For It,” the more than 200 activists and 35 organizations in attendance agreed to work tirelessly over the summer to expand the network of grassroots activists and organizations to bring thousands of protesters to Pittsburgh .

Activists at the People's Economic Summit also agreed that the response to the next G20 should not be confined to the U.S. and that there should be a global response to the summit. Accordingly, activists and organizations across the world will be urged to endorse this call for protest against the G20 summit meeting in Pittsburgh and to organize globally-coordinated protests during the summit in September.

FREE MUMIA AND THE G20

Political activist and journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal, possibly the most well-known political prisoner in the world, has resided for almost 27 years on Pennsylvania's death row. For the past 14 years, he has resided in a small cell in the triple-maximum-security, SCI-Greene Unit, about 50 miles away from Pittsburgh . Mumia’s case combines the realities of the systemic racism in the courts and prison system in the U.S., together with police brutality, judicial misconduct and political repression. High on the list of demands of our protest at the G20 must be freedom for Mumia and an end to the racist prison industrial complex that is devouring so many young people of color.

G20 PROTEST PLANNING MEETING – SUNDAY, JULY 12 IN PITTSBURGH

There will be a G20 organizing meeting for activists and groups both in and outside of the Pittsburgh area on Sunday, July 12, 3 p.m. at La Roche College (time and location of meeting subject to confirmation)

The potential for a massive global mobilization in September is truly infinite. Together, let’s begin the work required to realize that powerful potential.